I hate waiting.
You have cancer. You’d think everyone would be freaking out and wanting to get this taken care of immediately! No. You wait. You wait for the first appointment with the people who can start to solve this. That was Monday.
You wait for the MRI results. Those came in Tuesday while we were on the way to our pet first aid course. The course was great, and now we know how to do CPR and the Heimlich on our pets as well as find a pulse. The pulse can be found on any four-legged animal by pressing gently with the middle and ring finger on their femoral artery which is located in the crease where their hind leg meets their body. We practiced on Arthur a bit last night. He just thought he was getting belly rubs.
I digress. MRI results. Probably because I don’t want to think about it. They found another mass in my right breast. It’s smaller and was not visible on the mammogram. The initial mass is 2.1 centimeters, which puts me strongly in the chemo first/surgery later category. These things will happen either way. It’s just a matter of which is first.
Then there’s the left breast. It decided maybe to get in on the action too. They noted some calcification. What on earth is that? A calcification in the breast is usually a benign calcium deposit. Generally, nothing to worry about.
Apparently mine is maybe something to worry about.
What does this all mean? More waiting. I have oncology appointments with two different oncologists Monday and Tuesday. I hope they agree on everything and that I get to use the one five minutes from my house since by the end of this we will be best buddies. Additional testing will happen on July 3.
The additional testing will be an ultrasound-guided biopsy on the right and a stereotactic breast biopsy on the left. The doctor will use ultrasound imaging to guide where they should insert the needle to obtain a tissue sample. I’ve also had ultrasounds on my knee and ankle. Normal women have ultrasounds to look at their babies while in the womb. I’ve decided to be abby-normal.
The stereotactic biopsy sounds a little more… yeah. I need to do more research, but currently I’ve stopped at ‘large bore needle’ – it’s probably a similar needle to the ultrasound biopsy, but I hadn’t read that part first so I’m cool with it.
They should be able to find the mass on the right at least with that and get samples. I won’t say ‘a sample’ because the first biopsy was six samples and from what I can decipher from the bit of information I have, five of those were viable to be tested.
I watched the ultrasound as they did my initial biopsy. If you’re not grossed out by medical stuff, it’s pretty fascinating. I’ve been through enough medical and nursing school now via my job that I can watch this stuff. I used to not be able to watch them prick me with a needle. Now I can. I guess that’s good.
And another mammogram. My fave.
And then? More waiting. July 4th is a holiday in the US. I guarantee the people who read biopsies aren’t working that day. Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll look at them immediately, but I’m not going to hold my breath. And after talking to the nurse, she said Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday before the results and my surgeon will call me with them.
So, this pushes me into the following week before any decisions can be truly made. Fun.
Did I mention I hate waiting?